Black Bird, Fly
by I Stare Sometimes
Summary: Louise's life was a cacophony of events. Events that unbalanced her. Events that scarred her. Despite being so young, her life was changed forever the day Black Canary and Wildcat came to her aid. Her life already was just a waiting game, but after that day, it became dangerous. How can you call a life a life, if all you can do is wait?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey! So, this is my first but not only Young Justice story I'm posting to the site! I'm excited. x)

Hopefully you guys like her!

 _ **Edit:** Okay, so upon receiving a review informing me that Dinah is 24 (not my assumed, like, 29/30) in 2010, the start of this show, I've decided that instead of GA and Black Canary, it'll be Wildcat and Black Canary. Yaaay for misinterpreting the shooooww... _

_I'm changing the timeline I had originally set up, and will be editing for a little bit to fix this little dose of ignorance I've displayed. :\_

 _Dinah'll be 16 when she and Wildcat come in in this chapter, so, there. Reference point._

* * *

Louise was born an orphan.

Her mother had had no intention of keeping her, but also had been forbidden to abort.

The only thing she stuck around to do, was to stall in the hospital to "recover" and waive her father's wrath.

Louise's mother was sixteen.

Every nurse at the hospital hated to see the lonely hazel-eyed baby cry, grasping at the sky for something she couldn't even fathom, yet somehow knew was missing.

When social services picked up the baby days later, they each had said their goodbyes.

Living in an orphanage in New York wasn't a bad life. It was decent.

But a life waiting, is no life at all.

* * *

At five years old, Louise was transferred from New York to Star City for an unknown reason.

Star City, although a sunny city, had its underbelly.

Coincidently, where the orphanage was located.

At seven, Louise was the fifth girl among four others kidnapped from the neighborhood surrounding the orphanage.

After two months, there was finally hope.

Louise watched in awe as two people in costumes burst through the gang's hideout, beating the men that had preyed on the group of girls.

One with whiskers, and the other with fishnet stockings.

The two broke apart, the young woman running for the dog cages the girls had called home for months now, and the man continuing to punch his way through the crowd with relentless fists.

The young woman's face unmarred by a mask, unlike the man, her clear blue eyes roved over all of the crying and screaming girls worriedly, until they settled on Louise's wide hazel ones.

Louise was silent, tear-less and bravely in the front of the cage as she had been since the beginning. Louise had placed herself there. She was the protector. She could make the sacrifice. After all, she was the only orphan of the group.

The young woman seemed to recognize the girl's protective stance and her features twisted with empathy. Snatching a crowbar from the filthy floor, the young woman in fishnet stockings struck against the lock until it broke off, speaking soothing words and shushing cries as she did so.

The moment it broke, the young woman was off again, letting loose a ear-piercing screech that didn't even seem human, rumbling the ground and knocking down barricades set up by the thugs.

As the girls around her clutched their ears and added screams of their own, Louise just laughed with glee.

The woman made her way through the last of the thugs, making the man's punches seem like pokes in comparison as she plowed her elbows and knees respectively into each of the bodies before her.

When she reached the lone thug standing, she kicked his legs from under him, expertly locked him in a head lock and snarled something no one could hear.

The man, decisively not like the other thugs, laughed coolly in her face. "See, that's where you're wrong. We _have_ succeeded, _kid_."

The duo shared a wide-eyed glance before both looking at the girls' place in the corner.

There laid four small, bloody bodies, the fifth was missing.

* * *

Listlessly remaining still; that was her life now.

If you moved, they'd hurt you.

If you spoke, they'd mock you.

If you wept, they'd laugh at you.

Staying still was key.

Waiting was survival.

But then again, a life of waiting is no life at all.

And she was desperately waiting for something.

* * *

"Dinah..." Theodore broke her from her revere gently. "Dinah, it's been a year. Maybe the kid's-"

"-Ted," Dinah interrupted, almost pleadingly adding, "Don't say it."

Ted sighed roughly and rubbed his forehead, half in exasperation, half in desperation. Dinah's persistence was admirable, but a year _had_ gone by. "Dinah," he started gruffly. "I'm being realistic. Which is what you need to be, kid."

Dinah glared slightly, her head cocked to the side in slight offence. He hadn't called her that for a long time. Getting up from her mess of potential leads and dead-ends before her, she stalked towards her old mentor.

"I have to find her, Ted," her voice was soft, despite the offence she had previously shown, taking Ted by mild surprise.

She looked tired. Hell, she must have been... Tired of the elusiveness of this unknown criminal circle, tired of looking for a nameless kid in a sea of ambiguity.

She was tired of the golden brown hazel eyes that haunted her dreams.

The rims of her iris, a dark green. The middle of the iris, a light hew of brown.

The area around the pupil, speckled a golden green.

The eyes were never happy.

Always wide, and afraid.

She _had_ to find her.

* * *

"Good. Now raise your hand."

She did.

"Flex your fingers."

She did.

"Exhale slowly through your nose and allow the currents to flow through your fingers."

She did. And it hurt.

"Silence, child! I'm not in the mood for your sniveling today."

Silence... barring the crackling of the rod touching her skin.

"Good... Now try again."

This time it hurt even more.

"Damn it!"

 _Smack!_

"I haven't gone this far to have you be so weak!"

 _Smack!_

"You've been exposed as much as I dare, and you're still-"

 _Smack!_

"Too-!"

 _Smack!_

"Weak!"

 _Crack!_ She cried out as instead of a hand striking her, the rod that was on her extended arm struck her temple.

And stayed there.

She felt the two sharp prongs on the end digging further into her temple, and she let out a scream.

Her scream increased in volume the longer it stayed on her head, reaching an almost inhuman decibel, the man in front of her taking no notice of his glasses and various glass items around them shattering.

Any one else would have died by now, she was sure, but instead of dying, instead of returning to the pitch black of unconsciousness, she felt something snap like a dry twig inside of her.

Instead of passing out, like she had in previous successful sessions, her scream changed somehow in pitch from pain to alarm as the current of electricity wasn't hurting anymore.

It felt... good.

Not like someone scratching your back soothingly, or an embrace, but an uncomfortable... good.

The feeling baffled her, as she felt it grow, panicking as an iridescent golden yellow haze blocked out her sight.

She couldn't hear her own scream anymore.

She was sure the man's growl had become a scream before her vision had blurred out, but she couldn't hear him anymore either.

Nothing made any sense around her, and the odd mixture of good and uncomfortable faded.

It was painful again.

Really painful.

And then it abruptly stopped.

The stark whiteness of the lab, though... was black. Charred were the surfaces that were once a stark white. The tables that were closest to where she was laid were smoking piles of twisted, scorched metal.

She was gasping for breath, throat raw from her scream. She was limply hanging forward from her place underneath the unbreakable metal bonds that held her slight frame against the vertically inclined examination table.

She no longer saw the man.

She vaguely wondered where he went.

Suddenly there was a click and and flare of a microphone over the remnants of the speaker above the far door.

" _Well done,_ " an impressed voice practically crooned. It sounded farther off when it continued. " _Make preparations to move her to my facility. And clean up Dr. Fores_."


	2. Chapter 2

The next sound she heard was a monotonous beeping.

She had heard it plenty of times before, but it never was accompanied by the staggering smell of disinfectant.

She didn't know what the smell was at the time, but she did know it felt penetrating. As if the smell was trying to invade the area behind and above her eyes, making her feel a new wave of nausea every time she inhaled.

She opened her eyes slowly, allowing the bright lights to invade her senses, numbing her brain as she practically could feel the electricity pouring onto her.

 _ **Stay still...**_

 _That's how you survive._

 ** _Wait..._**

 _That's how you make it till tomorrow._

She let out a shallow breath; a calming one.

 _ **Close your eyes**_ , her brain instructed. _**And don't open them again.**_

Her eyes slid shut.

It was after she closed her eyes that she noticed her hearing had previously been muffled. More sounds started to slowly trickle to her.

She heard... rumbling? And among the rumbles, voices.

But these voices were odd.

They were higher in pitch than what she was used to.

Not the low, gravelly sounds the men had made when conversing.

Heavy thoughts tugged at her mind, showing flashes of all things she thought to be imaginary, worlds she didn't believe existed... For example, she practically remembered the sun shining through the tall buildings of New York... the smile on the nice woman's face; the remorse when the woman was forced to give her to the mean man with cold hands and a scratchy suit.

Maybe those thoughts weren't all dreams... Maybe they _were_ memories.

But she was accustomed to darkness...

She was accustomed to tables and needles.

She was accustomed to men. Men with cold hands and scratchy coats.

She didn't speak, she didn't move, but words that she vaguely remembered to be a song drifted to mind. She hardly knew the tune of it, but that didn't matter. She just made up how it went musically.

But she remembered the words. It was the one thing she hung onto.

The woman and the sun were images she always tried to hold back; she couldn't exactly control when she thought of these things... But the song was her teddy bear.

She knew what a teddy bear was. She was mocked by the men for needing one since - from what she gathered from their taunts and jabs - was the last thing she had dropped in the orphanage.

The song was her only comfort... She knew what that was too, if not vaguely.

 _Blackbird singin' in the dead of night_ , she sung mentally.

 _Take these broken wings and learn to fly_

 _All your life_

 _You were only waiting-..._

That was all she knew.

* * *

"Louise?"

That startled her. But of course they would know her name at this "fase-ill-ity" too, wouldn't they?

"Louise, honey, we know you're awake."

 _'Honey'? What?_

"Could I ask you to open your eyes?" A decisively different voice asked.

It was softer than the first, more timbre than rough.

She allowed herself the luxury of hope swelling in her heart... and opened her eyes.

Her eyes had adjusted enough from their previous exposure to the penetrating lights of the room she occupied, therefore her eyes immediately met the two different sets of blue eyes staring at her.

She blinked once, not daring to speak.

The one with the pretty, twisted brown hair turned slightly to the blonde one. "Miss Lance, would you mind flicking the lights off for me?"

The taller of the two immediately complied with a firm and assertive nod.

The lights flicked off and Louise blinked in relief.

"Louise, my name is Dr. Carson, but I'd like you to call me Marge." Her voice was soft... As if speaking louder than a relaxing tone would break Louise. She walked around the foot of the bed, adjusting her white coat around her body as she sat at the clear foot of the bed. "Can you speak, hon?" She added as an afterthought.

Why was she so... soft? Louise's brow furrowed in confusion.

How did _Marge_ know her name? Was her coat scratchy? Why was she being treated so... well?

"Answer me, sweetheart," she prompted softly - almost inaudible, it was so soft and pleasant.

Louise tried to swallow. All her throat did was bob.

She tried again.

She tried licking her lips, but that only made her mouth somehow feel worse than it had a second ago.

"Here," Marge chirped softly.

Suddenly, a white cup was being... offered to her?

Her eyes flew to her body and she almost cried out in surprise.

She wasn't tied down.

The weight of the restraints were still heavy upon her body, almost like indentions. That must've been why she still felt the weight of her bonds.

"Here..." Marge supplied, kindly bringing the cup forward to help, probably understanding the girls sudden hysteria.

Cautiously, eyes boring into the woman's before her, she allowed the doctor to lift the cool water to her lips.

It tasted odd cold. It had been a long time since the previous doctors had bothered giving her anything cold or warm. Or fresh.

Once a drop touched her tongue, she thirstily drained as much as the doctor allowed.

The doctor seemed to be examining her carefully as she rehydrated the young girl, eyes rarely leaving those of the girl's.

"Miss Lance," the doctor suddenly inquired. "Please, if you would stay here with Louise, I need to find Dr. Edwards immediately."

The silent blonde woman nodded. "Of... course," her voice sounded perhaps a tad bit suspicious as she looked between the doctor and the girl.

"Trust me, Dinah," Marge chastised light-heartedly, with a weary smile. The cup transferred hands.

Dinah shook her head firmly, as if to dismiss the comment, gripping the cup firmly. "I do. Of course I do. Just go," she added with a small, humorless laugh.

Marge turned to Louise. "I'll be back shortly," she said softly with a smile.

Louise only blinked.

* * *

The two just stared at each other.

Dinah sighed softly, contently.

"I've been looking for you for a long time."

Louise just blinked. Then she slowly furrowed her brow.

"Do you know how old you are?" Dinah laughed an almost tearful, breathy, humorless laugh. "You're eleven years old."

And?

"I've been looking for you for four years."

Four... _years_. How "long" is that? Is it long?

Dinah walked to a chair to the side of the bed.

"You probably don't really get it yet, do you? Any of it."

Louise's brows furrowed more.

"You're out of their hands," Dinah said softly, a watery smile tugging at her pretty face.

 _What is that supposed to mean..._

"You're in a children's hospital. The best in Star City, thanks to a new friend of mine."

Louise just stared at the woman, eyes resignedly softening, and her shoulders falling. She turned away and closed her eyes, resting her head on the soft pillow.

That's why everything felt so good... so soft.

It was _too good to be true_. It was a dream. A nightmare.

"Louise?"

 ** _Don't listen to her._**

If she could move her weak arms, she would cover her ears and block out the voice.

She started humming.

It felt scratchy and it sounded hoarse, but it was a necessary distraction.

Dinah was silent as Louise hummed the few bars she knew, singing in her head to the tune she hummed something Dinah could recognize vaguely.

 _Blackbird singin' in the dead of night..._

 _Take these sunken eyes and learn to see..._

 _All your life..._

"' _You were only waiting for this moment to be free_...'" Dinah suddenly finished, her voice suddenly thick with emotion. Her naturally low voice made for soft and soothing singing voice.

Louise's eyes snapped wide open, staring unblinkingly at Dinah.

"' _Blackbird_ _fly_..." She drew out 'blackbird' with a soft wave of her voice (a "vibrato", Dinah had informed her a year later). " _Blackbird fly_... into the light of the dark black night...'"

Louise didn't know what to say... And so she simply let four "years" of loneliness overtake her.

She let the sobs wrack her body. She let her emotions roam free, allowing herself to feel for the first time in forever.

By doing this, she inadvertently let the uncomfortable feeling seep back. Without explanation, everything in the whole building shorted out.

* * *

As it turned out, the years spent being subjugated to experiments wasn't for nothing.

They had been successful.

Marge's "Dr. Edwards" was a specialist in metahumans, and had determined immediately to remove her from a civilian hospital.

Dinah had seconded the motion, and Louise was promptly moved somewhere far more prepared for electrical outages.

After many, many tests and many, many psych evaluations, Louise was labeled as "mentally fit".

* * *

 _Eleven Months Later..._

Louise was an orphan. Her mother had had no intention to keep her. She was alone for the majority of her short life.

Because of these unfortunate events, the result was her being able to manipulate electrical currents and energy to either gain strength or agility, or to focus the energy into blasts.

She however, had little-to-no control of her emotions, which meant spotty powers.

She could short out a major city even if on accident.

She could also overexert herself easily. Too much power and kaput.

She was nothing but a liability.

But Dinah disagreed. Profusely.

She disagreed enough to pull massive strings in order to gain custody of Louise.

Now she had a home.

A name.

Louise Lance was her name.

And she was no longer waiting.

Dinah trained Louise as a protege; a hero.

Taught her hundreds of techniques to control emotions and to reign anger and any other powerful emotion.

She was taught to fight. She was taught to win.

After all, no grand-trainee of Wild Cat would take anything less than victory.

Louise enjoyed life.

She knew what "life" meant now.

And that was the best feeling in the world.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** FIXED IT! Now I'm happy. _


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:** Hi again! Holy amazeballs, a lot of people (in my opinion) followed/favorited this story! If you wanna leave a review, you totally should! ;D Even if it's criticism! I just ask that you respectfully inform me of my mistakes and my blunders._

 _Anyway, so, after realizing a little blooper - thanks to an anon reviewer - I fixed it! Like. A lot. Quite a bit changed. Ya know, story timeline-wise. In response to the comment that the story was a bit confusing to follow, I kinda made it that way. I made it that way to establish that an un-measurable (to Louise) amount of time has passed. But I promise that the confusing-to-follow part is going to be done once I get out of storyteller mode, heh. So, yeah. Maybe if you'd wanna give the other chapters a re-read, it'd be a good idea. Things changed._

 _This chapter will be the shortest. I just needed to get this one out of my house before it started living in my basement or something... #prematurefanfictionmotherlyproblems_

 _I do not own Young Justice or Dinah Lance or anybody else I want to love for realsies, but can't cuz they're fake._

* * *

After four years of being homeschooled and trained by Dinah, she was reevaluated by Dr. Edwards. He had been helping her along every bump and every hardship as she grew up before his very eyes.

He said she had done outstandingly.

He clapped his elderly hand on her muscular shoulder and offered one of his bushy mustached grins. "You've done it, Lou. You've come very far for an over-emotional fifteen-year-old," he teased with a fond slow sock to her jaw. "You should be damn proud, kid. Because Dinah and I sure are."

Lou returned his "punch", delivering a lighthearted sock to his arm bicep and immediately followed-up with the biggest hug she could muster. They wouldn't be seeing each other again for a long time.

"Thank you, Matt," she had murmured into his smooth and warm doctor's coat.

They let go of each other and the elder man left with a watery smile and a mock-salute. Lou returned it. It had become their "handshake", as it were.

Dinah approached her from behind, resting enclosed fists on each of her hips, leaning on her left.

"I'm gonna miss him, Dinah," Lou murmured, not trusting her voice enough to speak louder.

"I know how you feel, kid," Dinah replied, endearingly calling her 'kid' as both Matt and her did. No one else was allowed. "You'll see him soon enough though."

They shared a small smile over Lou's shoulder.

Changing subjects, Lou's smile became wider, more devious. "So, _ma_..." Only Lou was (barely) allowed to say that one. "Since Matt approved of my progress, does that mean I can go out on patrol with you?"

Dinah usually always looked reluctant at that question. It had been brought up between the two of them, and even once or twice resulted in Dinah forcefully detaining Lou in her containment room to explain that she was still too unstable to join her... Hence the need for the containment room. The only place that could stand the full-force of Lou's uncontrollable electrical discharges.

As Louise had expected Dinah to dodge the question, the girl's mentor just grinned and replied with a wink, "Matt already commended a suitable suit for you, kid."

Louise couldn't stop the static electricity that emitted from her body as she cheered and laughed with her mother.

* * *

"Ow."

"Shh."

"Ow!" Lou hissed. "Do you have to do it so hard?"

"I told you to keep your guard up, hun," Dinah murmured distractedly as she cleaned a particularly long but shallow cut on Louise's chest.

"It was up! That's why I dodged!" Louise exclaimed, motioning to her chest, "That's why that jerk hit here, not my _face_!"

Dinah looked at Louise sharply, her jaw clenching slightly.

"I think you need just a little more time before your ready for anything serious, Lou," Dinah stated, packing up the first aid kit.

The color drained from Louise's face and static erupted on her body, as it often did when she was upset. "What!" She jumped up. "No! Ma, you can't do that! I've worked so hard for this!"

Dinah sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I know, Lou... But I can't risk it. I'm not risking you."

"That was way too cheesy to have come out of your mouth, Dinah..." Louise huffed out a laugh. "Ma, I'm ready for this!"

Dinah shook her head, smirking slightly, ruffling Louise's hair. "Sometimes affection is cheesy, Lou." Dinah stared at Louise for a minute. Seeing her opportunity to strike, Lou tried again. "I just didn't know what to expect... You can't judge on the first night!"

Dinah just shook her head. She ran a light finger over Louise's cut and sighed, saying quietly, "You'll need stitches for this. At least ten. It'll scar."

Louise shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe I want scars. Maybe having scars is worth it."

Dinah sighed again, opening the first aid kit once more. "Fine. But more than four -no! - three mess-ups, you're on probation."

Louise snickered, "You're adorable when you try to go all 'mommy' on me."

Dinah narrowed her eyes playfully at her ward, and resisted a grin.

"Just for that, I'm gonna make it _eleven_ stitches."

Louise blanched slightly, and only for a moment. "Do your worst."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** WOW, so, sorry for such a long wait. :)_

 _You know that feeling where you need to be distracted by serious school things but wind up distracted by not-school things? That me._

 _Please leave a review, and thank you for reading!_


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